Location:
Horn of Africa; in what is today Ethiopia. Oromia is approximately located between 3 degree and 15 degree N latitude and 33 degree and 40 degree longitude.
Size
375,000 Square Miles, or, 600,000 square kilometers; Larger than France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium & the Netherlands combined.
Population
40 million; 3rd. largest nationality in Africa; single largest nationality in East Africa.

Friday, May 30, 2008

The Wayane/TPLF Instigated Massacre of the Oromos in Western OromiaOnce again the TPLF/ EPRDF regime has deliberately organized and instigated armed attack on the Oromo. This time the regime organized, trained, armed and unleashed militia from Gumuz, a nation in a region neighbouring Oromia from the West, on wanton killings of the Oromos of East Wallaggaa, Western Oromia. This is a Crime against Humanity.

The Oromo and Gumuz peoples have lived together as good neighbours for hundreds of years. It is these neighbouring peoples that the TPLF regime maliciously turned against each other causing days of violence that claimed the lives of more than 400 people, as a result of a campaign that went on from May 17, 2008 to May 19, 2008. The Gumuz militia attack on the unarmed civilian Oromos caused the death of hundreds and many more injuries and displacement of hundreds to people, and destruction of large amount of properties. The TPLF regime trained and armed Gumuz militia with AK-47 and heavy machine-guns and ordered them to commit indiscriminate killings of unarmed Oromo civilians of East Wallagaa. As a matter of the TPLF government's policy, the Oromos were disarmed and are not allowed to bear arms. The Gumuz militia attacked the unaware and unarmed civilians. Hundreds of Oromos were subjected to horrific and barbaric killings.

The militia is said to be so heavily armed that the local police themselves had to flee along with the civilians. The relevant government body and armed forces were bystanders watching the massacre of the unarmed and defenceless Oromos.

On May 17, 2008, a significant number of well armed forces from the Benishangul Gumuz regional state suddenly attacked unprepared civilian Oromos early in the morning, before they were even awake from sleep. As the attackers were well armed with AK-47 and other unmentioned heavy machine guns, and were highly trained military personnel, they inflicted deadly massive casualties on the unawake Oromo civilians.Conflicts have been reported in the following parts of East Wallagga. These are: Saasiggaa District, particularly at Haroo Waataa, Camp 4, Camp 5, Camp 8, and Baloo villages;

Limmu District, particularly at Arqumbee village; and other areas (Clear location not found): Amba 7, and Mandar 10 villages. The conflict is still spreading to other areas in the region.Digaa District, Arjoo Gudatu, and Dimtu area new war against the innocent unarmed Oromo people 2. Scope of the attacks which is still going on The invaders¢ actions include mutilation of body parts (arms, legs, and other organs of children, breasts of women, male genitals), throat cutting and slaughtering, burning down of housings and other properties, looting of properties including animals, raping of women and children, and burning of dead bodies in masses, to make access to information impossible. Very disturbingly, the invaders seriously target the male section of the society. They also snatch infant babies from mothers¢ backs and kill, only to force the mothers to eat the flesh of their own babies.Access to information has been intentionally made difficult, not only by the killers, but also by government structures. We are able to get information only for a limited part of the victim population (Saasiggaa district), and only for limited days of the incident (May 17-19, 2008).

According to key informants and victim families, the names of which we don’t have to disclose due security reasons, the following major causalities have resulted from the incident.3. Consequences of the conflict3.1 lose of livesa total of 400 Oromo civilians are estimated to be killed until May 19, in the areas mentioned above. About 65 of the dead are from Haroo Waataa village of Saasiggaa alone. Most of the dead are male children and the elderly. Only 115 dead bodies were found and buried in groups, in just four graves (40, 30, 25, 20 bodies). The remaining bodies, most of them burnt or eaten by dogs and hyenas, are being gradually discovered.The following list provides the names of some of the dead, in Saasiggaa district. The age and other identifications of the victims could not be found, for the moment.1. Tasfaayee Qana¢aa, 2. Waq-gaarii Deetii, 3. Boggaalee Waaqtolee, 4. Salbaanaa Galataa5. Kabbadee Salbaanaa, 6. Fiqaaduu Salbaanaa, 7. Fayyisaa Wadaajoo, 8. Tarrafaa Nagaraa9. Badirii Jamaal, 10. Samu¢el Waanee3.2 InjuriesAccording to the key informants observation, about 40 seriously injured Oromo civilians were receiving medical treatment in Naqamtee Hospital as of May 19. Below is the list of only six of them, all of them from Haroo Waataa village: 1. Samuel Tolasaa (See Picture 1), 2. Daniel Dhaabaa (See Picture 2), 3. Adam Muhaammad4. Darajjee Fiqaaduu, 5. Addaamuu Imaanaa, 6. Warkinesh Fiqaaduu, 7. Abraham Mallasaa3.3 Lose of propertiesThere is no quantified information about the extent of property lose resulted from the conflict. Generally, however, the properties of three villages in Saasiggaa, including Haroo Waataa and Baloo have been irrecoverably damaged: housings and in-house properties, including crops were totally burnt down; and the livestock were looted by the invaders.

Similar types of loses of property have been reported elsewhere covered by the conflict.3.4 DisplacementCivilians in the affected areas have continued to flee their homes and properties beginning with the onset of the conflict on May 17, 2008. Until May 21, over 12, 0000 people are believed to have left their homes, and are camped in Naqamtee town and at a primary school in Saasiggaa district. According to a key informant, the Ethiopian Red Cross is providing minimum basic life-saving assistance to the victims.4. Action taken by the government to stop the conflictAccording to the Ethiopian Law, civilians are not allowed to bear arms in general. Hence, Oromo civilians are totally unarmed. On the contrary, even ordinary Gumuz people are armed. The armed invaders used that opportunity as a source of arms supply for their continued killings. However, both the regional and the federal movements exhibited significant reluctance at stopping the conflict. Although the federal government has deployed its forces, they remained witness to the raging killings, instead of stopping the killers.

They rather successfully prohibited Oromos from neighbouring villages and local militias from coming to the rescue of the victims, and from and defending themselves. Most of the loses (both life and property) happened at the presence of the federal forces.In further worsening of the situation, the government has systematically blocked access to information through prohibiting access to victims and the damaged areas, by information seekers. Neither government media nor the free press has brought the issue to public attention.

5. The TPLF Regime only this year crime against the Oromo Ever since it came to power, the TPLF/EPRDF regime has applied the outdated 'divide and rule' policy to weaken peoples' struggles for freedom and justice by sowing seeds of disharmony among friendly neighbouring peoples. The TPLF regime's track record of the past 17 years of tyrannical rule is full of such evil intrigues that instigated bloody conflicts among peoples in Ethiopia. As a result of TPLF's machinations Oromo and Sidama, Oromo and Somali, Oromo and Gedao, Anywak and Nuer, Oromo and Amhara, Oromo and Oromo, now Oromo and Gumuz and several other people have clashed. As the results thousands of innocent lives were lost, tens of thousands of people were displaced and enormous amounts of properties were destroyed in the past 17 years. For example in this year only:-

1. With the TPLF, woyane regime instigated conflict between Guji Oromo and Konso 40 peoples have lost their lives, dozens wounded and properties were destroyed.2. In the historic place of Madda Walabu many Oromo’s have lost their lives.3. In MI'eesso and many other places, conspiracy was made between Oromo and Somalis, in which civilian Oromo’s were murdered by the well armed groups.4. In Wondo Genet more than 40 Oromo’s were killed by raids.5. TPLF have armed the Afar so as the can raid to the extent of Adama.6. In Wanbara Oromo’s are being hunted like a wild.7.Many times and at different places in the Region of Benishangul TPLF have armed its murderers and raided the Oromo’s in Limmuu ,Gigami, Manasibuu, Gidda, Sasigga ; which is followed in huge destruction. Accordingly as of may 17/2008 on civilian Oromo’s are under armed attack by the same group.8. The TPLF government is also active in refuge murder in the horn. In Somalia; Punta land (Bosaso) 65 were killed, 100 wounded and 250 homes burned down.9. Every year Oromo University students are killed and dismissed from school in group.10. The government have the same plan in other part of Oromia in near future to create conflict between Oromo and Gambela (Anyuak) South, Isaa and Oromo in the East Oromiya

The most horrific act includes killing a mother and forcing the son to eat the deed body, and they also killed the 2 week long mother giving birth and wounded the son. Behind all the conflicts among peoples in Ethiopia during this period, there always are the TPLF regime's security agents deliberately creating distrust and suspicion among peoples who have lived peacefully for many years as neighbours. The regime survives by creating armed conflicts among peoples in Ethiopia. Such heinous act is a crime against humanity.

6. Annex

Last, but not least, we call upon the international community and governments to exert all necessary pressures on the TPLF regime to desist from its inhuman and destructive policies of deliberately setting the people it purports to govern against each other. We also call on all concerned governments and international organizations to pay close attention to the crime against humanity the minority tyrannical TPLF regime is perpetrating in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa in general and take remedial actions before it is too late. We call European Union and USA government to stop all economic and material support for dictatorial regime.

On May 26, 2008, the Ethiopian Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) dominated regime issued a fabricated statement regarding a minibus blast that occurred on May 20, 2008, in Finfinnee aka Addis Ababa. It stated that:" Some of suspects of the bombing last Tuesday in Addis Ababa of a taxi minibus killing six passengers and injuring seven others have been put under custody. … Terrorists including those now arrested planted the explosive in the minibus full with commuters heading to Lagar from Arat Kilo on 20 May 2008. Evidences indicate that this act of terror was also coordinated by the Eritrean regime and perpetrated by its stooge, the self-styled Oromo Liberation Front." From the outset, we would like to make it clear to all concerned that the accusation labeled against the OLF is baseless.

The OLF has nothing to do with the blast. The OLF has never and will never target civilian population nor does it condone any such acts. The OLF is an independent political organization, formed in 1973, that struggles for the realization of the Oromo people's right to national self-determination. The OLF is struggling for the protection of the Oromo people's political, economic, social and cultural rights. The OLF is accountable to the Oromo people and has never been a lackey of any other Government or organization. The TPLF knows this more than any other. The OLF has never targeted civilian population or their properties in its military operations ever since its formation either against the imperial, the now defunct junta and the incumbent minority tyrannical regime of the TPLF. It is imperative to recall that the OLF had struggled against the feudal imperial regime and the Marxist Military regime of Ethiopia. It also is important to remember that after the downfall of the military regime, the OLF was a member of the Coalition that formed the Transitional Government of Ethiopia, among others with TPLF, in 1991. The OLF joined the coalition and formed the Transitional Government with the TPLF and others, in good faith and it was committed to peacefully and democratically pursue its political objectives.

To the contrary, the TPLF joined the coalition as a tactical move. The truth was the TPLF formed the coalition with a commitment of forming a one-party TPLF tyrannical rule and that was why it forced out the OLF, the only independent organization in the coalition, from the political process. The TPLF made sure that no independent political organization participated in the country's political process. To deceive the external world /donor governments, it created several satellite/dependent organizations and appeared to have installed a multi-party system. It is a public knowledge that the OLF resorted to armed struggle, as a means of last resort, after the tyrannical TPLF minority regime closed all avenues to peacefully and democratically pursue its political objectives. Soon after the OLF was forced by the TPLF to withdraw from the Transitional Government, the TPLF Leaders wishfully declared to the whole world that it has annihilated the OLF. The TPLF regime could not and cannot annihilate the OLF because the OLF is an embodiment of the Oromo people's political expression and, therefore, enjoys their overwhelming support. This had been publicly expressed during the Transitional Period.

Having terribly failed to deprive the OLF of the unflinching support of the Oromo people, the TPLF maliciously and opportunistically labeled it as a "terrorist organization" and embarked on the defamation of the OLF. The target was to undermine the objectives of the Oromo people's struggle for self-determination, which has the goal of justice, freedom, democracy and progress. The TPLF regime's objective of labeling the OLF is to tarnish the international image and standing of the OLF and to isolate the legitimate cause of the Oromo people's struggle. For the project of defaming and isolating the OLF, the TPLF has allocated a huge budget and has assigned a full time staff of several hundreds of agents, including highly paid lobbyists. To date, the TPLF regime's wicked effort to defame the OLF did not succeed. The TPLF regimes' accusation of the OLF makes sense only to its leaders and lackeys. The TPLF never had internal legitimacy. The overwhelming majority of the people in Ethiopia lend no credence to what the TPLF Regime says. Therefore, international community, in general, and donor Governments in particular, are the targets of the manipulation malicious and trumped-up charges against the OLF. There is a pattern of timing in TPLF regime's malicious accusation of the OLF. In general the TPLF regime accuses the OLF to either deflect the people's attention or to gain the donors' attention. It accuses the OLF when it believes it is internationally conducive to make such labeling stick or when the regime's internal/domestic political challenges soar or crisis worsens. These days, the TPLF regime is engulfed in crises.

The country's economy is ailing of a sky rocketing inflation and the largest majority of the people are hardly making ends meet. The imperialistic and adventurous aggression and occupation of Somalia has become a quagmire to the TPLF army and it appears that there is no strategy for victory or exit. The Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, continuous making contradictory and confused statements in this regard. The secret boundary demarcation agreement or deal that the TPLF regime made with the Government of Sudan is facing a strong opposition from the Ethiopian People. The undemocratic April 2008 local and by-election have transformed the TPLF regime from the de facto one-party to a de jure one-party- TPLF/EPRDF tyrannical rule. Now, Emperor Meles Zenawi is more naked.

Hence, the regime started orchestrating bomb blasts and blaming it on the OLF to harness sympathy from concerned corners as a victim of terrorism. For all who know the history of the TPLF regime's leaders, such an orchestration of bomb blasts, at the cost of human lives and limbs, to make a political point, does not come as a surprise. TPLF has no regard for human life. It killed thousands, including its own base people of Tigray, on its way to power; it started killing unarmed civilians as soon as it won the political power of the country from the military junta, and it is perpetuating its tyrannical rule by killing the civilian population opposed to its dictatorship. The OLF has all reasons to believe that the minibus blast of May 20, 2008 that happened in Finfinne/Addis Ababa was organized and carried out by the TPLF Security Agents, as usual, for the purpose of blaming it on the OLF. It is not a coincidence that the TPLF Security Agents planted the explosive on a minibus on which an American citizen of Israeli origin was a passenger. We believe that they carried this out to make it appear that the OLF targets the US and Israeli citizens, security and national interests. This action, in their calculation, will corroborate their standing effort to put the OLF on the US list of terrorist organizations. The OLF would like to unequivocally state that its objectives, struggle or operations are in no way directed at the security and interests of the US, Israel, or any other state or the well being of their citizens, or any civilian population for that matter. It is also worthy of note that it is a practice and custom of all Ethiopian regimes to label, mischaracterize and defame all political forces opposed to their tyrannical rule. It is a known fact that the predecessor of the incumbent regime had labeled TPLF and its leaders, among others, Meles Zenawi, "terrorist and mercenaries of the Arab Countries." One, therefore, should not give credence to or be surprised by the TPLF regime following in the footsteps of its predecessors and labeling, mischaracterizing and diabolizing the OLF.

Finally, we would like to reiterate, emphasize and put to rest this issue that the OLF is neither a terrorist organization, as labeled by the tyrannical regime of Ethiopia, nor does it endorse terrorism as a means of political struggle. The OLF expresses and struggles for the legitimate political aspiration of the more than thirty million people of the Oromo nation. The fabricated and repeated accusations of the tyrannical TPLF regime against OLF is hollow and, hence, cannot depreciate the good name/record of the OLF or the legitimate struggle of the Oromo people for self-determination, liberation, justice, democracy, peace, economic, social and cultural development.

Last, but not least, when we were about to dispatch this Statement, AP reported the following news: "A Somali group called Islamic Guerrillas claimed responsibility for the Tuesday's [May 27, 2008] bombings in Nagele, 560 kilometers (347 miles) south of Capital." The AP further reported that, "Ethiopian Government Spokesperson Zemedkun Tekle previously said that the bombings were probably the work of the OLF group." We added this AP report to the Statement because it corroborates all what we have been saying about the minority TPLF tyrannical regime's accusations of the OLF. This is a vindication for the OLF. The charlatan Leaders of the TPLF tyrannical regime will be further exposed.